News

On May 11, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) announced, “Energy utilities face serious challenges as customer satisfaction drops 3.2 percent.”

With an ACSI score of 71.9 on a scale of 0 to 100, the energy utilities sector dropped again for the third straight year. On a positive note that speaks to the cooperative difference and value of membership, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives remain the highest rated utility group.

The ACSI highlights in their latest report that, as a group, cooperatives “still do better than investor-owned and municipal utilities. Touchstone Energy Cooperatives stays ahead of the smaller electric utility cooperatives despite slipping 4 percent to 77. The gap between Touchstone and the competition widens as all other smaller cooperatives plunge 8 percent to 72.”

In comparison, municipal utilities declined 6.8 percent overall to an ACSI score of 68 and large investor-owned utilities fell 2.7 percent as a group to 72 (see chart below).

When asked about the utility sector decline, ACSI Founder and Chairman Claes Fornell said, “Utilities customers are sensitive to two things: price and disruption. Demand for energy is inelastic and nondiscretionary, meaning consumers have little choice but to pay regardless of price. While energy prices have been stable and have not increased dramatically, wages remain stagnant and monthly energy bills are a constant drain on disposable income. Consumers expect the lights to turn on and the A/C to work when they flip the switch. ACSI data suggests that consumers have reduced confidence in utilities’ ability to respond and recover from outages.”

Here is the full press release, and you can download the full report and learn more about ACSI scores by visiting www.theacsi.org. If you are interested in taking a deeper dive into the drivers of cooperative member satisfaction and engagement, visit the Touchstone Energy interest area of cooperative.com to review the National Survey on the Cooperative Difference and the case studies featured in the Best Practices Knowledgebase.

Touchstone Energy is looking for people interested in joining one of our advisory committees that are directly responsible for both program development, as well as making recommendations to the Touchstone Energy board of directors. By joining one of our committees you will have a great opportunity to have a direct influence in providing resources, expertise  and high-quality content to co-ops all over the United States.

If you are interested in being a part of any of our advisory committees and are looking for a way to get more involved with Touchstone Energy, please click here (link is external) to begin your application today. You can also learn more about each of our different committees and also what joining a committee can offer you below!

Brand Strategy: Responsible for providing direction of all external communication efforts with a focus on market research, message development, promotional and public relations activities and much more.

Business Development: Responsible for  developing and overseeing initiatives that enhance partnerships between cooperatives and national, regional and local businesses. The Business Development team works on constantly improving the value of cooperative membership.

Cooperative Relations: Responsible for encouraging the use of  network tools and resources to demonstrate the cooperative advantage, as well as helping members realize the full value of their membership..

Energy Solutions:  Responsible for encouraging member systems to identify residential energy programs which provide value to member-consumers and educating and member-consumers in managing energy use. 

Standards & Best Practices: Responsible for helping cooperatives build a member-focused culture that provides ways to measure, understand and improve satisfaction and loyalty.

Top 5 Reasons to Join a Committee:

• Experience: By joining a committee you will be able to work first-hand on the programs and policies that will benefit Touchstone Energy members around the nation.
• Development: The work that you do by participating in a committee will directly help co-ops and end-of-the-line co-op members all around the country. Plus you’ll be one of the first to learn about new offerings for members.
• Brand Building: Committees members are advocates for Touchstone Energy and work hard to capture and promote the value of co-op membership.
• Leadership Opportunities: By joining a committee you will have the chance to have your co-op members’ voices heard on a national level.
• Community: By joining a committee, you can help create a strong community for co-ops and promote the cooperative advantage.